Moments
by natk3927
Summary: A short story of a budding relationship between Hermione and Fred. I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any money from it.
1. Chapter 1

Summer 1994 - Moment 1: Notice

Fred was 16 the first time he noticed that she was, well, a girl. She walked into the kitchen at the Burrow during breakfast, in her summer pajamas (a thin white singlet top, with noticeably no bra underneath and a pair of short blue cotton shorts). He noticed that Hermione had managed to get her very bushy hair somewhat tamed into a ponytail. He was sure that he'd seen her wearing some variation of this outfit at least 10,000 times before given that they lived in the same house at school and sometimes Harry and Ron would bring her toast in the common room when she overslept on the weekend. Today was different though; because this was the very first time he had noticed her slender legs and pert breasts. In a single moment, she stopped being his youngest brother's mate and became an actual female in his mind.

His pants slightly felt tight and he couldn't help but fidget somewhat in his seat as he tried to eat his breakfast. He was suddenly pleased he had gotten dressed before coming down to breakfast otherwise it would have made for a very awkward exit from the kitchen. As George shot him a quizzical look, he dropped his head and decided to concentrate entirely on the box of cereal in front of him, and it's corresponding nutritional content.

As Fred pretended to read, and tried to eat the same time, he couldn't help think that something was wrong with him; Hermione one of his little brother's best mates, his sister's friend and she was two years younger than him! That's almost a crime.

As he felt like someone was watching him, he glanced at George and realised that his twin had already finished their standard breakfast (a bowl of cereal, two pieces of toast and whatever fruit he could locate). When Fred paid attention to his meal, he realized that it had taken him almost 10 minutes to eat less than half of it.

In an almost concerned voice, George said "Mate you've gone all pale. You're not trying to read are, you? You know that hurts your brain". 

Ginny and Hermione chortled over their toast and look hopefully at the twins. They needed some comedy after the obnoxiousness of Percy taking up the bathroom all morning (which was no doubt why Hermione was still in her pajamas').

 _Christ!_ He thought _this is going to be a long morning_ _and_ _now I'm the entertainment._

Putting on his trademark, soon to be patented, Weasley smile, Fred quickly glanced to see if his mother was anywhere nearby. "Well given the threat I heard Ginny given Percy this morning I thought that soon we might have an opening for a pretentious, obnoxious sibling, and given that we both know I'm the smartest twin, I thought I start reading up on my general knowledge."

"By reading the cereal box? Fred, do you honestly think you are going to outsmart Perce with your knowledge of 'Witch and Wizard Fibre'?"

"Well, mate if it's nothing else, it's a start. I mean if I need to learn everything, I have to start somewhere, and this certainly seemed more interesting then whatever it is that Percy keeps crapping on about". 

Not having noticed his mother's entrance to the room, the whole table seemed to jump when she snorted and said "That will be the day Fred; you are studying to know everything. Maybe you should take a page out of Hermione's book first and apply yourself at school instead of doing so many pranks?"

Hermione had to grace to drop her head, blush and say "Thank you" to Mrs. Weasley, while Fred stood up to wash his bowl. He kissed his mother's cheek on the way past "How about I make that next years goal mother?" before he quickly dashed out of the kitchen just in case she not find it quite as funny as he did.

The next couple of days passed with relatively few outbursts from Percy, and all the boys were getting excited about the upcoming Quidditch World Cup. They were also thrilled about the possibility of finally getting to meet Harry's horrible muggle Aunt and Uncle.

While trying to shove thoughts of Hermione in those short pajamas and her lovely legs out of his mind, Fred decided to focus on the latest experiment he and George were trying to work on as he climbed the stairs two at a time after another breakfast.

When he reached the small second-floor landing, he found Hermione, the subject of the thoughts he had been trying to avoid, leaning against landing outside the bathroom waiting. His entire family (Mum included) had learned pretty quickly this summer to get into the bathroom before Percy, the git. 

Fred stopped, raised an eyebrow and whispered, "Is it who I think it is?"

Hermione nodded and sighed impatiently. Fred knew that Hermione and Percy usually got along pretty well. He figured it had been a bookworm thing, but even he could tell that she was well and truly losing her patience with him.

That, however, did not prepare him for Hermione leaning forward, smiling and whispering "God forbid his hair is not perfectly styled every single day for his precious Mr. Crouch! Anyone would think they are dating the way he continues to go on about him! Mr. Crouch this, Mr. Crouch that! It almost as bad as…" Hermione trailed off having realised what she was about to say.

Putting on a mocking voice, Fred asked: "Where you about suggest that it is almost as bad as when my dear little sister first met Harry?" Hermione blushed but nodded nevertheless.  
Fred couldn't help but smile as he and George had both gotten more than annoyed with Ginny mooning over Harry a couple of years ago.

"I think Percy might be worse," Fred whispered, and he realised that he had never been happier to test out a new product. He put his hand in his pocket and looked Hermione straight in the eye. Fred tried to ignore how little space was between them on the small landing and how thin her singlet top was. Using all of his effort to pull he eyes away from her chest, he put a sly grin on his face, lent towards her and whispered "Run; we were never here" before he pulled out a tiny prototype smoke ball out of his pocket and rolling it under the bathroom door. As he ran for the stairs, he grabbed Hermione, who seemed shocked but had nonetheless turned and started moving towards the stairs.

Fred couldn't help but think that three years with Harry and Ron had taught her precisely the right time to bail on a situation. Nonetheless, he felt that the moment required a little more swiftness than what she was demonstrating so he, without really thinking, grabbed her around the waist on his way passed and pulled her up the next two flights of stairs as quickly as he could.

They had just safely closed the door to George and Fred's room behind them, both gasping for air and trying not to laugh when a cacophony of yelling came from the floors below. The noise started off with Percy yelling about how Mr. Crouch expected him to be well presented at his job. It was closely followed by Ron who was finally awake and screaming at Percy for waking him up, and then Mrs. Weasley, who now had two grumpy teenage boys to attend to.

George, who was laying on his bed playing with some sort of wrapped lolly automatically broke into a grin and looked at Fred and Hermione who were hanging into each other; they were leaning against the door silently laughing and gasping for air. It took a couple of minutes for them to stop laughing and even then it took a very pointed look from George for Fred to realise he was still holding Hermione around her waist but more importantly she was leaning up against him, using him to stand upright.

"I take it I have you to thank for that Hermione? After all, Fred and I got into the bathroom early this… " 

George didn't have a chance to finish that sentence before the bedroom door swung open causing Fred and Hermione to go flying across the room, and land heavily in a pile of tangled limbs, with red and very bushy loose hair tangled and two audible grunts. When Fred finally managed to get Hermione's hair out of his eyes (not a small task when there was so much of it, and she appeared to be entirely on top of him which he had to admit felt pretty damn good), he looked towards the door.

By this point, George was howling with laughter at the look on his father's face, which was entirely shocked, with a small amount of concern at finding at a 14-year-old girl in her pajamas lying on top of his 16-year-old son.

Fred sat up, dragging Hermione up with him. Having repositioned himself, and Hermione in the process, she was sitting half on his lap, and his arms naturally were around her. He glared at his Dad who also looked like he had pieced together what had happened and was trying not to laugh himself. 

"Oh sorry Fred, sorry Hermione. Are you okay dear? Boys I thought we told you about the no closed door policy in this house when girls are here?" 

"No, but you did tell Ron" that response came in unison that caused Hermione to blush so hard Fred could feel the heat coming off her face, from behind her. 

Speaking of heat, he was just starting to realise that Hermione was sitting on his lap and she seemed to be very still. He hoped that she couldn't feel the heat he was feeling from his groin because that would require a lot of explaining. 

"Yes, well it applies to you both as well. Anyway, your mother sent me up to tell you that smoke balls or anything else that isn't Ministry approved are forbidden in this household".

He didn't even try to look mad; in fact, he was smiling slightly. "Not that I would disagree with your mother but that one might have been a good one boys… Anyway, it's time for me to go to work, so see you tonight boys. Oh and Hermione, before I forget, the bathroom is free now".

Hermione jumped up, glanced slightly at Fred smiled and said "Thanks, Mr. Weasley" before she stood up and strolled out of the room swinging her hips and trying not to smile or laugh too hard.


	2. Chapter 2

Moment 2: Confusion

Fred spent the next couple of days in a state of complete confusion. Hermione wasn't the first girl he had liked; he was 16 after all. Unlike his younger brother, Fred had started to notice girls some time ago, and while he didn't make a big song and dance about it, he had spent some time "getting to know" a couple of his co-ed classmates. There had been the Ravenclaw girl his year who he had spent a couple of evenings "getting to know" in the third-floor broom closet, and he and Angelina had spent some time together in the change rooms after a couple of Quidditch matches when they had both felt like it. There had even been an embarrassing incident involving the portrait of a much young and hotter McGonagall that he and George would never speak of.

None of those girls put his mind in this much turmoil. He felt like Hermione was occupying every single spare part of his mind. He had been distracted to the point of nearly destroying three of his and George's final prototypes, and George had banned him from touching any more of their products for the foreseeable future.

As they walked to their portkey to the Quidditch World Cup, Fred felt George watching him out of the corner of his eye. After he stumbled for the third time walking in a straight line on the almost flat ground which, even he had to admit, was somewhat of a feat, George grabbed his arm and dragged him to halt.

"Fred, what the hell is wrong with you? You've been as uncoordinated as a gnome all week, and you've been about as switched on as Ron."

Fred felt his cheeks turn red. He wasn't about to tell George that he seemed to have lost the ability to walk because he had been paying more attention to how good Hermione's butt looked her jeans rather than concentrating on his own feet. He quickly looked up to see how far away the rest of the group was before he answered and as Fred did he noticed that Hermione was looking back at them with a concerned looked on her face. He couldn't help it; he flashed her a wide grin. _She's worried about me!_ He thought gleefully. She smiled in return and turned back to catch up with the others. He then noticed that she was walking slightly more slowly than usual and he swore that her hips didn't usually swing like that.

George brought him back to reality with a quick slap on the back of his head. He asked incredulously "You have to be kidding me. You're into Granger?"

Fred couldn't quite bring himself to look at his twin and instead focused on a clump of dirt near his right sneaker. "How obvious is it?"

George, on the other hand, was somewhat happy that Fred couldn't look at him because he had a feeling that if he did, Fred would have knocked his massive smile off his face. Using a disproportionate amount of effort George managed to rearrange his face, just before Fred quickly looked at him and then he went back to examining the clump of dirt.

"To me, it's pretty freaking clear that something is up. I don't reckon anyone else would have noticed. Mum might start asking questions if you don't start eating more. But Dad is always at work, Perce is so far up his arse that he won't notice anything that doesn't directly relate to him, and Ron, well, let's just say that unless you start dancing around naked and singing it from the rooftop, he won't ever figure it out." George sighed, "Come on, we have to start walking again otherwise we'll miss the bleeding Quidditch World Cup Final because you're moaning about a girl. Just don't turn into Ginny! I think I'll barf if I have to start hearing about the amazing shape and shade of Mioney's eyes, and if you even think about writing her poetry you will have to test all of our products for the rest of the year!"

Fred couldn't help but laugh and answer "Deal!"

When they finally reached the campground, Fred was exasperated. His Dad was mental. It was apparent to everyone that Harry had never been camping before and was seriously struggling to put up the tent. His Dad's overexcited efforts to help seemed to be undoing any of the scant progress Harry was making. Fred confirmed it when he pulled Harry aside and asked, "Harry, have you ever even gone camping before?"

Harry looked slightly guilty, as he answered, "No. My aunt and uncle aren't exactly the camping sort. To be honest, I've never even been in a tent, let alone put one up. I think we're screwed."

Fred looked around for Hermione who he found sitting by the fire that she and Ginny were setting up. It seemed like she knew what she was doing because he knew that Ginny had no idea. The Weasley's had about the same amount of camping experience as Harry – absolutely none. He walked over to the girls, crouched down right next to Hermione and said "Hey Mioney, help a man out. I don't want to sleep under the stars tonight, and that's how we will be sleeping if someone doesn't help Harry, the boy who can't put up a tent. Please tell me you have been camping before?"

Hermione couldn't help but give him a small smile and giggled as she looked over to see Mr. Weasley accidentally hitting Harry with a tent pole. "I have, but your Dad looks like he is having so fun, I can't possibly bring myself to help."

"Plus she finds watching Harry struggle this much fun. And she's right", Ginny added with a huge smile on her face.

"Well if you enjoy this you should see him in Potions Ginny, it's hilarious." Hermione couldn't help herself, "While Harry is great at Quidditch, defensive spells, and you know, that whole he who cannot be named thing, he really cannot mix a potion to save himself. It's genuinely funny to watch him. And besides that, I'm on holiday I want to relax, not help Harry through _another_ arduous task."

Fred, having the one-track mind that teenage boys do, only managed to take one thing in from her sentence. He looked at Hermione, with a slightly shocked look on his face "You watch Harry in potions? Granger, do you watch Harry at other times too? Maybe in the shower or getting changed into his PJs?"

Ginny scoffed "No Fred; there is someone else that Mioney would like to watch in the shower isn't there Mioney?"

Hermione blushed deeply and quickly. Fred didn't even realise that she could turn that colour and that promptly. Hermione shoved Ginny, and Fred noticed that her voice was a lot higher than average as she said "No Fred, I do not watch Harry in the shower. Nor do I ever want to. Ugh no. Ginny on the hand…"

Ginny who had turned slightly red as well, pushed Hermione to try to shut her up, but Hermione was too balanced to fall and just smirked back at Ginny.

Fred realised that trying to get Hermione to help by teasing Harry wasn't going to work, so he figured the next best thing was pleading. "Please Hermione? We need your help?"

Ginny snorted, "That's not going to work Fred. That's all she ever hears from Ron and Harry during exams."

Hermione shot her friend an amused look. "Fred, what I don't understand is: what is in this for me? Your Dad and Harry will hopefully figure out your tent eventually, and I can set up mine and Ginny's if I need to."

Fred had noticed the smirk on her face. She was teasing him, and they both knew that she would have eventually helped with the tents anyway. "How about you consider it a favour to yours truly?"

"Any favour?" came the quick response.

"Any favour at all of your choosing" Fred quickly countered.

"Any time and anything I want?" asked Hermione.

When Fred looked at her, he realised that he had never seen this particularly sly look on her face before. He almost regretted his offer but decided that she couldn't be that devious. "Yes and yes. Hermione Jean Granger do we have a deal?"

"Yes" came the swift reply from Hermione.

"Shake on it?" Fred held out his hand to her, and Hermione countered with hers. They shook hands and stared each other down. Fred was used to this sort of combative handshake, but what he wasn't used to or expecting was the feeling of Hermione's fingers softly stroking the inside of his palm. The action sent a shiver up his spine and, he felt his cheeks turn red. Suddenly he was looking forward finding out what favour she might want from him.

With a small smile, she looked at Fred and Ginny and noticed that the former was smiling at her with a slightly predatory grin and the latter with a smirk. "Hmm, maybe I should go and help Harry. It might be safer than staying here after all," and with a wink Fred, she was up and gone to help Harry set up the tent.


	3. Chapter 3

Moment 3: Confirmation

 _This "chapter" is from Hermione's point of view (mainly because I wanted to try to write from a girl's point of view) and it is a little lemony._

From the minute she woke up Hermione knew that there would be an epic storm at some point that day. She sat up and glanced out of Ginny's window her thoughts were confirmed. Even though the sun was still coming up, Hermione could see that the sky was completely overcast. Her entire body felt sticky; she was sure that her hair was even fizzier than usual plus the heat made it feel like it weighed a tonne. She felt like she was sweating, but she was doing nothing more than laying on her camp bed in Ginny's room.

Rolling over onto her stomach, she groaned as she pulled her hair off her neck, but when that didn't give her any relief, she decided that maybe getting out of the house and into the fresh air might help. It was only then that she thought to check the time _hmmm 5:45 is a little early even for me_ she thought, _oh but it will be quiet!_ Moving silently, she grabbed the nearest pieces of clothing she could find in Ginny's mess of a room: a light summer dress her mother had bought her and her flip-flops. After dressing quickly, she left Ginny's room and headed down a flight of stairs to the bathroom to grab some deodorant and brush her teeth before she went down into the kitchen.

When she entered the kitchen, she pleased to see that it was empty. _Yes, I'm the first person awake_ , she thought. This was rare in the Weasley household. _Good,_ she mused _I need some time to clear my head_. As she set about finding a drink bottle and putting on some sunscreen, Hermione was determined to go for her walk. Lately, she had not been able to stop thinking about a particular older Weasley boy, one that had a twin.

Hermione shook her head like she was trying to clear water from her ears, _why can't I stop thinking about Fred?_ It had been driving her crazy. She found herself always looking at him or looking for him, and she felt like she was turning into one of the lovesick girls in her dorm! _Oh, Merlin,_ Hermione thought back to the time that Lavender had decided that she was in loveDraco and she had had to hear about how dreamy he was every single night! No wonder she had spent so much time in the Library! _I can't believe I'm turning into Lavender_ she thought absently.

If she was honest with herself, this wasn't her first crush. She'd started to notice boys about a year ago, but she had never acted on her feelings before. _And this time won't be any different_ she resolutely decided. She did have to admit, however, that this was the first time that she was utterly infatuated. Ever since her first morning at the Burrow this summer when Fred had come to breakfast wearing a singlet, and she noticed his well-toned arms, she had been positively distracted. It had gotten even worse when the boys had played Quidditch a couple of days earlier, and he and George had decided to take off their shirts. Hermione hadn't read a word of her novel, and she swore that she had nearly started drooling.

She filled up her drink bottle and quickly opened the front door and headed towards the Weasley's front gate just past the shed, determined that some light exercise would help clear mind. As she stepped off the front step and onto the lawn, someone roughly grabbed her arm. She was shocked to find Fred standing there looking as shocked as she felt.

"Whoa Granger, what are you doing out here at this time?" Fred, who usually looked incredibly easy-going, looked somewhat like he had seen a ghost.

"I could ask you the same thing!" Hermione inwardly cursed. She had, despite herself; she couldn't help but smile, "you damn well frightened me half to death!"

"I thought it would take more than a simple Weasley twin to frighten you," said Fred with a sly grin on his face. "I mean, you are the _legendary_ Hermione Granger! You've faced a three-headed dog, a basilisk petrified you, you slapped Malfoy, and most importantly you spend most of your time with my disgusting younger brother. I simply can't be that scary."

Hermione laughed, "Well when you put it that way, you aren't that scary, and I have to admit you smell better than Ron too" _Oh Merlin, did I just say that?_ Hermione felt her cheeks heating up, and she was pretty sure she had just turned the same colour into a tomato. Keeping her eyes strictly on Fred's shoes Hermione managed to get out "Well I'm going for a walk… see you later", and she turned to walk away.

Inwardly fuming at herself Hermione strolled swiftly towards the Weasley's front gate. She just reached the gate when she heard someone running up behind her. Knowing that she couldn't outrun him, she slowed down. _Oh god, oh god, oh god, this is going to be awful._

"Granger slow down. It's too damn humid to run. And I'm out of training."

Hermione stopped. She didn't feel she had a choice and based on the Quidditch matches Hermione had been watching for the past three years she knew that he could tackle her to ground if he needed too. At the mere thought of Fred tackling her, Hermione felt her cheeks turn even redder. Now she was confident that her face was bright red. Hermione couldn't look up; she didn't dare. She felt him move closer towards her. Hermione felt like she could feel her heart beating in her head. Fred was now standing directly in front of her.

"Hermione look at me."

"No"

"How do you know that I smell better than my brother, Granger? Not that I imagine that it is a hard feat. Have you been doing a comparative study?" Fred's voice seemed deeper than usual, almost as if he was serious.

"A comparative study?" Hermione glanced at Fred, but his face was impassive, so she went back to looking at her feet. "Um no, I don't get close enough to Ron smell him. I um… don't want to give him the wrong idea."

"And what idea would that be?"

"That I might think of him as anything more than a friend."

"Granger you are going to look at me" Hermione felt Fred's fingers putting gentle upward pressure on her chin. She let him slowly bring her face up so that she couldn't help but look him in the eye. She was sure that she was still bright red from embarrassment, but the look on Fred's face shocked her more than anything else. He seemed so dangerous compared to his usual light-hearted self. She wanted to look anywhere else but she couldn't.

"Fred…" She felt his face come closer to hers, and it was like the pull of a magnet, as they both came closer together, until his lips softly and quickly brushed hers. She had barely felt it, but she was nonetheless sure that it had happened. His hand was now softly stroking her neck, _Oh I want more,_ she thought as she pushed herself onto her toes and softly pressed her lips to his. She felt his other hand go to the small of her back as her hand grabbed his shirt to help her balance.

She felt his tongue lightly brushing her lips, and she opened her mouth the let him deepen their kiss. Hermione felt exhilarated as she stood in the Weasley's front yard at 6 am snogging the boy she had been thinking about for weeks. While this was her first kiss, Hermione found that it wasn't too hard of a skill to pick up and after about 5 minutes, she and Fred broke apart panting slightly.

"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this in the open? My family is bound to wake up soon." Fred whispered looking like he was already regretting the words.  
Hermione couldn't help herself; she didn't want stop kissing him. She leaned in and kissed him softly and whispered, "Where exactly do you plan on taking me? I don't think your Mum would appreciate it if we took this into the house."

"Oh, I have an idea." She noticed that his smile had gone wolfish as he grabbed her hand and led her to into the shed, closed the door behind them and softly pushed her again the door before he leaned down towards and taught her a couple of new snogging lessons, which stopped her brain.

Hermione had lost all sense of time, as well as anything else that wasn't Fred. She knew the shed was dusty and that it somehow smelt vaguely like gunpowder, but she didn't care in the slightest. Hermione felt his hands struggling to stay on her arms and neck, and she almost wished he wasn't holding back. She was so distracted that she didn't even hear someone walking up to shed. The next she knew, she was falling onto Fred, who looked as shocked as she felt, as the shed door opened behind them.

Trying to regain her senses from her new point of view on the ground, she turned around towards the door and saw George. In a split second, he went from shocked to laughing so hard he was using the door the keep himself upright.

Fred sat up and faced the door with a scowl on his face, "Do you mind younger brother? I'm a bit busy here," growled Fred as he wrapped his hands protectively around Hermione's shoulders.

"Sorry mate, I um didn't know you were indisposed. Hermione, love, are you sure that it's Fred that you want? I am the more handsome twin after all."

Hermione blushed and leaned back slightly, so she was resting her head on Fred's shoulder. At first, she was disturbed about how natural it felt, but then she realised that she didn't care. "Oh I'm pretty damn certain George, after all, I have been able to tell you apart for a while now."

Both boys looked at her in shock and said in unison "How?"

Hermione winked at George and "A witch has to have her secrets you know." She said slyly before she turned back to her normal curious voice "George why were you coming to the shed at six thirty in the morning? And why does it vaguely smell like gunpowder in here for that matter?"

This time both of the boys smiled savagely as they looked at each other and then Fred whispered in her ear "If you get to keep your secret, then we get to keep this one."

"Now Granger, to answer your question, I was here to see my brother. I did not expect to find you literally on top of him, and even though I am the more handsome brother, I don't need to be the smartest to figure out what was going on here. However, I am going to need you to leave." He waggled his finger at them as said: "You two can finish getting to know each other later."

Hermione shot Fred a questioning look from her position on his shoulder, and he nodded before he whispered "ugh he's right…Um Georgie boy, turn around for a minute wouldn't you?"

George turned around mumbling something along the lines of "You have 1 minute before I tell Mum."

Fred leaned down and kissed Hermione swiftly before asking "I'll see you later?" 

Hermione nodded and stood up. While she wanted to dance her way back to the house in happiness, there was just one more thing she had to do. "Um, guys… can we keep this to ourselves for the time being? I love your family, but they can be pretty intense."

The twins looked at Hermione who suddenly felt very small and silly before they both smiled and Fred said: "Um yeah, that might be a good idea."

"Right great. Um, I might go for a walk then. So yeah bye."

And with a fleeting look back at Fred, who was still on the floor of the shed, she walked quickly out of the shed and closed the door behind her, and then continued on that walk she had initially wanted to take, but with an extra spring in her step.


	4. Interval 1

Interval 1: September to November

Time passed far too quickly for Fred and Hermione once they arrived back at Hogwarts. Between the Triwizard Tournament announcement, Fred and George's joke shop plans, Fred's increased study load (not that he paid a lot of attention to it), Hermione's study timetable and Fred and George's plan to trick Dumbledore's magical line, the budding couple were having trouble finding time to spend together. Every single time they discussed telling their friends about their relationship something seemed to come up, so they were still sneaking around behind everyone's back. So far they had forced to seek out empty broom closets, empty classrooms, and the common room very late at night just to see each other alone.

Things were made even worse when the Goblet of Fire announced that Harry was a champion and Ron had a complete meltdown. From then on Hermione felt like she couldn't leave Harry alone and Fred felt like Ron was permanently super-glued to him and George. Hermione however, was incredibly happy that Fred wasn't mad at Harry for being a champion. When she had brought it up, Fred couldn't help but laugh:

"You are kidding, right? Harry had no idea what the hell was going on. His entire facial expression was 'what the bleeding heck just happened? I just wanted a quiet year!'"

Of course, Hermione was stressed about what Harry was going to face going into the first challenge (something she hadn't helped by researching the past Tournaments as this meant she knew exactly why the Tournament had been cancelled in the first place). Being so stressed meant that even when she and Fred found themselves together in an abandoned broom closet or classroom, she often felt so frazzled that even Fred's kisses (as good as they were) couldn't distract her.

In the week leading up to the 24th of November, George and Ginny couldn't figure out who was more stressed, Harry, Hermione or Fred. All three of them were driving them mental. Harry seemed to be varying between what George called the "Prior-to-Quidditch-Matches-I-Might-Vomit-Pale" and green on the infrequent occasions that they saw him. Ginny swore that Hermione, who they saw even less than Harry, looked like she had not slept, eaten or even paused for even a moment since Sunday.  
Fred had to be worst though, in George's opinion. He was always distracted and seemed to be missing most of the time, even turning up to class out of breath, slightly sweaty and as grouchy as niffler with no gold.

Little did George know, Fred had been sneaking down into the kitchens and then sneaking into the Library with for food for Hermione because he was worried about her. He'd also been trying to catch her before and after classes to try to convince her to go back to her room and take a nap, which hadn't worked in the slightest and just left him feeling helpless.

Thankfully though the first challenge passed and Harry won (and lived!), and Ron was no longer stuck to the twins like glue and was now back in spending time with Harry which happened to free up both Hermione and Fred…


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Green-Eyed Monster 

Hermione couldn't help but feel blissfully relaxed as she sat in the Gryffindor common room on the evening of the 24 November. Harry had survived the first task, and Ron had finally managed to figure out that Harry didn't want to be a Champion. _Funny thing about_ thought Hermione as she sat back and relaxed with her two best mates. The person she was trying to not think about, at that particular moment appeared in front of her and asked:

"Would you like a jam tart Hermione?"

Fred had been subtly trying to look after her all week, and apparently, he wasn't done. Hermione's insides melted as she thought back over the past week. Tea and sandwiches had been _magically_ appearing next to her and Harry in the library and their practice classrooms if they had missed dinner or hadn't come back to the common room for supper. Not to mention the fact that he always seemed to be finding her between classes and suggesting that she go and take a nap upstairs. He had been the sweetest, and she had barely had a moment to spend with him in about a fortnight.

Looking at Fred, she kept up the regular conversation and even snorted when Neville turned into a canary and then back into a person. In the back of her mind was wondering how long she would have to wait until Ron and Harry got distracted and she could delicately give Fred a sign to come and meet her in their spot. As it turned out, it only took Harry and Ron about ten minutes to start talking flying tactics, which meant that she bored and, truthfully relieved. Hermione looked around the room and found Fred and George speaking to Angelina and Katie. She couldn't help but feel jealous of Fred's classmates. She had known that Fred and Angelina had been kind of together the year before, but Fred had assured her several times that that had run its course. Feeling Fred's eye boring down on her, Hermione yawned and tapped Harry on his shoulder; "Hey Harry do you mind if I head up to your room and grab that book I lent you the other day?"

Harry looked slightly confused; Hermione didn't blame him, there was no book, but given they had spent so much time around books in the past two weeks, she knew Harry would assume he had just forgotten about. Thankfully her she was right, and Harry said

"Sure. It's either on my bedside table or in my book bag."

"Thanks!" She said with a smile, as she stood up. Throwing a slight look at the group of 6th years in the corner, Hermione headed towards the dorm staircases, and then took the stairs to the boy's dorms. Hermione had known since her first year that the Hogwarts Founders had considered girls more trustworthy than boys and most Gryffindors found it ordinary that she would occasionally head up to Harry and Ron's dorm to get something.

What most students didn't know, was that one of the castle's secrets was in hidden off that staircase. In fact, Hermione hadn't even known until Fred her showed her about a month after they had come back to school. It didn't even appear on the Marauders Map.

Hermione silently counted the lanterns on the wall, and when she reached the seventh lanterns, she stopped and tapped the bottom on it with her wand and whispered the spell "revelare." As she did, a door handle appeared out of the wall behind her, allowing her to push open the door and enter the room. She went into a round room that was set up with a long bench along one side, a small bookshelf, one armchair and small two-seater couch. In the middle of the room, there were two cauldrons slowly simmering away. She noticed that the contents had changed. One had a pinkish mother pearl sheen and made the room smell like parchment, freshly cut grass, and Fred. Hermione recognised it as amortentia, but she chose not to ask why Fred and George were brewing it. The other potion was much more interesting though. She knew that it was an experiment, but she didn't know what it was going to do. At this stage, it seemed like a blue gluggy mess, so she grabbed one of the spell books of the bookshelf and chose to take her seat on the couch that was closer to the love potion.

She only had to wait five minutes before she heard the door open, and as Hermione looked up from her book, she was greeted by the sight of Fred leaning against the back of the door, with his arms crossed.

"Granger in case you haven't noticed there is a party going on downstairs in the majestic Harry Potter's honour. As his right-hand women shouldn't you be in attendance?"

Hermione sighed, while she had slightly expected this had hoped for better; _boys can be so silly_ she thought. _I've spent the better part of a term snogging this twat, and he still believes there is a chance that I'm into my best mate_. At the moment, this jealousy was cute to Hermione, but she knew deep down one day it might not be. She stood up and started to cross the room slowly. As she smiled and turned her head slightly to the side, "Why would I want to be downstairs with all those people, when I can be up here, alone with you Fred?" As she finished her sentence, she was within a foot of Fred, who was still frowning at her from his position against the door. He didn't say anything and just kept looking at her. She could tell from his eyes that he was softening oh so slightly.

She knew that there was only one way she was going to make him stop glaring at her. She reached up and put her hands gently on her shoulders and leaned in a kissed him lightly "You think I want to kiss Harry?" she asked teasingly.

"You could," he said sullenly.

Hermione strained to suppress her smile as she whispered into his ear "Like this?" She left a trail light kisses from Fred's ear to his lips and then kissed him passionately, knowing that he liked it when she made the first move. She felt his arms uncross and sneak across her lower back as he pulled her into him. As she felt the warmth of his body, their kiss deepened, and before she knew it, Fred had spun her around and pushed her against the hard door. Hermione didn't mind as long as Fred didn't stop kissing her and touching her. His hands had been slowly exploring across her lower back, her stomach and were far too slowly inching towards her chest. Hermione's hands had left Fred's shoulders, and one was gripping his hair while the other was placed firmly on his butt.  
They had been in this position several times before and had always been interrupted. Sometimes it was one of his siblings, and on other occasions, it had been students coming along corridors. They had even had one close encounter with Professor Snape, and it had been at that point that Fred had introduced her to his and George's secret study. This time was different, though. Everyone was downstairs at the party and Hermione couldn't see George leaving to come and check up on them.

Fred broke their kiss and Hermione looked at him, there was a question on his face, and he seemed to scared to ask it, just in case she said no. Instead of waiting Hermione grabbed his hand and led him to couch that she had been sitting on when he came in. He sat down, and Hermione looked at him. Both of them were still breathing heavily, and Hermione realised that she was feeling hot in her jumper. Without thinking, Hermione took it off. It wasn't until she heard Fred's sharp intake of breath that she remembered that she hadn't bothered with a shirt that afternoon, and had just put on her lucky singlet, which didn't exactly leave much to the imagination.

Looking down at Fred, she decided quickly that if she sat down next to him, her neck would promptly get snore while she snogged him. Instead, Hermione swiftly straddled Fred and the moment she did Fred put his hand in her hair and gently pulled her face down to his and kept snogging her.

All at once she felt like his hands were everywhere and in an attempted to slow him down a little she stopped their kiss and whispered in his ear "Still worried about Potter, Fred?"

Fred growled. "Oh you tease" He kissed her lightly, and she felt her stomach swoon as he moved his hands to her back. She could feel him looking for the back of bra strap and then felt him still when Fred realised she wasn't wearing a bra. "Oh Granger you are a menace," he said as he hands slowly moved to gently stroke her breasts through her singlet. Hermione moaned as she started to kiss Fred with renewed vigour.

It wasn't until the door behind closed loudly sometime later that Hermione came back to reality. By that point, Fred had managed to work the straps of her singlet down her shoulders, and he was in the process of landing gently kisses her across her chest, and Hermione noticed that somehow Fred's shirt had ended up on the floor with her jumper. Hermione stilled, as she was well aware that she was almost topless, straddling a shirtless Fred, and that George would never let her forget this.

Fred lazily lifted his head up, Hermione could tell that he was trying to clear his head to think of something witty to say to his younger twin to make him go away. However, when he looked over her shoulder, the look on his face sent ice down her spine.

"G-G-G-Ginny... what? How? Um…." Fred appeared to be in the process of swallowing his tongue and was therefore incapable of speaking.

"Hey Freddy boy, George pulled me aside and sent me to come get you. He thought you two had been alone a little too long, something about not ready to be an uncle at 16 …"

"How did you get in?" Fred asked, curiosity getting the better of him. Hermione glared at him. _I'm almost shirtless sitting on top of this idiot, and he wants to know how his sister got into the room!_ She thought

"Oh, I've known about this place since first year. I woke up in here a couple of times when… well, you know."

Hermione, while being fascinated by this conversation, was ready for it to be over. She turned her head so she could talk to Ginny. "Gin, would you mind turning around for a minute so we can um… get dressed?" Hermione was not proud of how high her voice was or how red her cheeks were, but she was also not impressed when she saw Ginny's smirk.

"Sure I was told that I couldn't come back down to that party without one of you so I'll wait." Fred snorted, and Hermione glared at him which caused him to stand up, and as he did, he held her body against him so she could slowly stretch her cramped legs to the ground.

Once she was stable, Fred kissed her gently then let go of her, and reached for his shirt with a smirk. Hermione quickly put her singlet back into place, and grabbed her jumper and pulled it over her head.

She finally turned to face Ginny, who still had her back to them and asked: "Right, so how do we do this without it being bleeding obvious?"

Two weeks later, Hermione was doing her usual homework in the Library. She looked up as she felt someone entering the desk space that she usually studied in. _God, I hope it's not Viktor_ she thought.

Recently she had noticed that Krum kept coming into the library and studying. It also wasn't lost on her that he had been moving closer and closer to her every single day. She hoped that he just wanted help with his English because that was about all she could handle at the moment.

He was one on the list of many things that had been annoying her lately. Harry was blatantly ignoring his golden egg because he insisted on leaving everything to the last minute. Ginny and George wouldn't stop dropping hints during meals about her and Fred (not that Ron or Harry had picked up on it). Krum kept asking her to help him with his English when she just wanted to study, and the girls in her dorm just could not stop talking about the Yule ball in two weeks time. _At this stage, I'm even going to the freaking thing_ Hermione thought angrily.

If she was realistic though, the real reason she was annoyed was Fred. Earlier that day, while they were making out in an empty classroom during lunch, she'd asked him if they were going to the Yule Ball together and he had looked at her like she had grown an extra two heads. The memory still made her see red. He was more than happy to make out with her and feel her up, but Merlin forbid they been seen in public together. She had had to hold herself back from slapping him as she had grabbed her book bag and stormed out of the room. She'd been ignoring him ever since.

Unfortunately, her wishes went unheard as Krum's tall, dark profile entered her study space. She looked at him and sent him a token smile before she went back to her charms homework. She felt him take the seat next to her and just managed to stifle a groan. She looked up and shot him a quick smile that was supposed to read as "I'm busy, but it's nice to see you" and went back to her book.

It didn't work though, because just as her eyes reached the page, she heard him whisper "Herminny I vas vondering, vould you like to go to the Ball with me? It vould do me a great honour."

Hermione was completely taken back. _Is he sure he is asking the right person? Maybe he has been hit by too many bludgers,_ she wondered. She had known that Viktor probably didn't need to spend as much in the library as he had been lately, but she didn't think that she was the reason. She briefly considered Fred and felt her rage rise again, and without giving him another thought, she said: "Of course Viktor I would love too." She smiled at him, and this time she meant it, and they went back to studying in silence next to each other.

When Hermione walked back to the common room, she was still in shock. She was pleased to see Ginny on the ground by the fire, alone, finishing off some homework. She sat down next to her. Ginny took one look at her face asked

"Um, are you okay? You look like you've seen a boggart."

"Gin, I think I've done something foolish."

"Well if you go and see Madam Pomfrey within 24 hours, she knows a spell that will stop me from being an aunty at 14."

Hermione blanched. She realised that she hadn't thought what about she had done. "Um thanks, I didn't know that, but your brother wasn't the stupid thing I've done."

Ginny looked at Hermione with concern. "I saw Fred earlier, and he looked annoyed, I was joking. I thought you two had had a fight and you'd taken making up a bit far. Hermione, what happened?"

Hermione swallowed. "So you know how I have been helping Viktor with his English?"

The youngest Weasley snorted. "Yeah, sure he only wants you to help him with his English…." 

"Gin he asked me to the ball. And Fred and I had a massive fight this afternoon, and I was so mad, I said yes."

Ginny let out a low whistle. "Shhhhiiiiitttttt I owe George 5 knuts. What the hell were you thinking? I thought you like Fred. If you don't, you've certainly been giving him that impression!"

"I do! I do. But Hh doesn't want to be seen with me in public, and I was angry. I just thought well why not? Krum isn't embarrassed by me!"

"So you're into my brother, but you're taking an international Quidditch player to the Yule Ball? I thought you were supposed to be the brightest witch of our age. I'm not even sure you're even the brightest person in this room at the moment."

"Gin what do I do?"

"Well you are going to have to take Viktor to the ball, so you are going to have to look drop-dead gorgeous. Have you got your dress robes? And what are we going to do with that hair?" Ginny seemed to be determined to take the practical approach to this problem.

"Gin be serious! I can't go with Viktor! I like Fred. Oh god please don't tell Harry and Ron" Hermione, on the other hand, was rapidly working herself into hysterics.

"My Mum always says that if make plans you have to see them through. So that's what we'll do. I saw Lavender fawning over a catalogue of robes this morning so she'll be able to help us with that. Parvati will be with her, and she's into hair and makeup so that will fix that. We'll just tell them you are going with Ron and Harry. It'll be fine. Come on you idiot; once we've figured the basics out, we'll go see George."

Ginny had been right. By lights out that night, Hermione had ordered her dress robes, and Parvati had helped her order the right products for her hair and some essential magical makeup. The one thing she hadn't had a chance to do was see Fred.

Hermione spent most of the night tossing and turning. She had barely had a moment of sleep and was feeling wretched. She was made to feel even worse by the fact that by the time she made it down to breakfast, Hermione had already heard three rumours that Krum had asked different Hogwarts witches to the Ball and then a suggestion that she was taking both Ron and Harry to the ball as _dates_. Thankfully neither of the boys tended to pay that attention to gossip so they wouldn't notice. Someone who had heard though was Fred because throughout breakfast he was altering between glowering at her and pretending that she didn't even exist. Deep down she knew she was going to have to face him at some point that day but wasn't ready to admit that.

Thankfully, Ron sat down across from her and Harry sat down next to her putting another person between her and Fred. Ginny took a seat next to Ron and Dean and Seamus joined them as well. Being with her friends and then her classes distracted her for most of the day. That afternoon as she headed to the Library, George and Ginny headed her off.

George looked at her and raised one eyebrow "Ginny told me. Let's get this over and done with otherwise I'm probably going to kill my twin. He has been in a foul mood, and he doesn't even know about Krum yet", said George darkly.

Hermione gulped as George and Ginny casually lead her back to the common room and then up into the Potions room. She was thankful that no one would ask too many questions. It had become accepted that Hermione was basically one of the Weasely's. When they reached the hidden door, George did the spell and pushed the door open.

Hermione heard Fred shout "Do none of you ever knock?" and then she heard a high-pitched giggle that she recognised as Angelina's. She didn't dare look, as she felt the tears spring to her eyes, she fled down the boy's staircase and sprinted up the stairs to her dorm. Hermione pulled the curtains around her bed and performed a tricky two-way silencing spell, and a shield spell, so that no one could hear her or interrupt her. That was where she stayed varying between crying, doing her homework and feeling sorry for herself.

Eventually, hunger outdid her embarrassment. She couldn't believe that not only had she had been falling in love with Fred Weasley but also that he had been embarrassed by her, and that he had to gone back to his ex-girlfriend less than two days after they had fought. But she was hungry. Checking her clock, she knew that the girls would be asleep, so she grabbed her wand and undid her spells. She snuck out of her dorm and was creeping across the common room towards the portrait when she heard

"Hold it, Granger."

Hermione could have died. She knew that voice, and it was the last person she wanted to see looking as dishevelled as she did. She was well aware that her eyes would be puffy and red from crying and that her hair was huge. _Can I just curse him and flee?_ She thought and quickly realised that that would be particularly cowardly. She turned and faced him and said in the most prissy tone that she could manage "What do you want Fred?"

"I want a fucking explanation" Hermione hadn't heard him that angry before. She turned and found him pacing back and forth in front of the fire. "First of all you run away from me, then I hear that Krum has finally asked a girl to the Ball and she said yes, and we both know it was you. And then I hear you are not only taking my brother but also your supposed "best mate" Potter to the Ball. So by my count, you currently have three dates."

"Fred…" She was cut off.

"I'm not done. Then I have the worlds longest day of class, because I've had no sleep, because my idiot girlfriend not only won't look at me or talk to me, but she's also apparently broken up with me and moved on with an international Quidditch player, my brother and his best mate and she's forgotten to tell me. Ange, who is my _friend_ , happened to notice that I'd had a crap day, so she offered to help with my potions homework, and then you turn up with my sister and brother like you have to _forced_ to spend time with me. Then when you do see me with a member of the opposite sex who also happens to be my friend you run away without even giving me a chance to explain. I'm not happy Granger, and you owe me an explanation."

"Um did you just call me your girlfriend?" Hermione managed to get out weakly before she collapsed into one the armchairs by the fire.

"Yes Granger, I bloody well did. I thought I had made my feelings for you perfectly freaking clear but apparently, you're dense. So yes, I consider you my girlfriend even if I didn't think you were ready to tell everyone."

"And you didn't think to tell me that?"

"The fact that I've been spending every freaking spare moment I have with you didn't give that away? I thought you were supposed to be smart!"

"You didn't say anything," she said weakly.

"Well how about I say something now. Hermione come to the ball with me? Let me show you off. Please don't go with Ron and Harry" Hermione could tell that Fred was hurt which her feel even worse.

"Please don't get too mad but I can't." He looked furious and went back to pacing. "Please sit down and let me explain. I'm not going with Harry and Ron. I promise they don't think of me like that."

"Well if it isn't them then it's Krum isn't it?"

"Fred if you sit down and let me explain everything without interrupting me I will tell you" she begged. She knew this would take a while and she needed to have him within arms reach just in case he tried to run away.

"Fine" He flopped onto one of the biggest and most comfortable armchairs. He was still glaring slightly, so instead of moving to sit on his lap like she wanted to, Hermione charmed her chair so they were seated directly across each and she stretched out her legs, so they were resting on his chair.

And she quickly explained: "Yesterday when I asked you, I thought you were disgusted by the thought of being seen with me, so I stormed off, and later I was in the library and Krum asked me to the Ball, and I was just so damn angry at you I said yes. And then I told Ginny, and she said that I have to stick to my word, and then I needed all this stuff like robes, makeup and this stupid hair stuff that Parvati says is amazing. Then I didn't sleep properly either because I felt like I'd screwed everything up and by the time I got to breakfast I was dating Harry and Ron and you'd heard about Krum. I was miserable. Ginny must have told George everything, so they came to get me to tell you, and then I saw you with Angelina, and I thought you had gotten back with her." Hermione felt miserable, and she could tell that she was really close to crying again.

Fred was looking at her like she had grown an extra limb out of the side of her head.

"Wow. We really screwed this up, didn't we? Granger, come over here." Fred held out his arms and Hermione went and joined him in his armchair. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear "I think I love you, Hermione. I've never felt like this before. Both George and Angelina noticed it. I've been a right bear for the past day and a half."

"I think I love you too you know," she whispered into his ear and snuggled down into his arms. "What do we do now? I feel like I have to go to the ball with Krum, but I don't want too."

"You should. That's the proper thing for you to do. I'll ask Angelina to come with me, and she can stop me from punching his lights out every time he dances with you, and I can see you afterwards. How does that sound?"

"I think it's best that we are going to manage." She paused and gulped, "Fred, I'm sorry I freaked out."

"Hmm, why don't you come up and here and show me just how sorry you are?" Fred said sly. "It's been too long since I've had a chance to kiss you."

With that, Hermione sat up and gently swung one of her legs over Fred's as she laughed said "Fred! It's been 36 hours."

Fred lazily closed his eyes and kissed her hungrily, and Hermione felt the happiness wash over her _Hmm my boyfriend thinks he loves me_ she thought gleefully as she started kissing him back.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

As the Ball grew closer Fred knew he was going to have to do something about a date. He had told Hermione that he would ask Angelina but he was slightly worried she would take it the wrong way. Not mention the fact that he felt stupid explaining what had happened. He sighed deeply as he noted down the time and the state of potion he and George were experimenting on.

He knew that the slightly pink sheen on the amortentia meant that that the potion wouldn't be as effective as it was when it was brewed at full strength, but they also needed to experiment to see what the side effects would be.

George looked at him, from his place on the armchair with his spell book, looking slightly bemused. "Yes Fred? Is something troubling you?"

"Nothing more than the fact that your older and more handsome brother is a pillock"

"Yes well, I already knew Percy is a pillock, but I wouldn't exactly call him handsome. I think you might need to get away from that potion mate"

Fred jovially conjured a pillow to him, before then throwing it at his brother.

George laughed while he pulled out his wand and smiled sly at his brother. "I've been meaning to try this for a while" He tapped the same pillow Fred had thrown at him, and cast wingardium leviosa to make the pillow float, and then aggressive struck the floating pillow and cast the spell "Blut".

Before Fred could fully understand what was happening, the pillow was aggressively flying towards him and hitting him on the head, repetitively. George laughed, as he walked towards to bench on the other side of the room "I'm going to need to write this one down" he said cheerfully. "Hmmm what should we call it? Pillow beaters? No that sounds slightly wrong…. Hmmm how about 'Self fighting pillows'? Yes that's better"

"Seriously? George! You are either a genius or an idiot. Make it stop!" But this stage Fred was slowly trying to stand up to approach his brother but every time he moved, the pillow hit him in the back of the head. Some how this felt familiar to Fred, so the next time the pillow flew back so it could hit him again, he wacked it as hard as he could in George's direction. George stopped laughing

"Brother, did you really just bewitch a pillow into a bludger? That is _brilliant_! Self fighting pillows! Mother's everywhere will hate us!" Fred's smile this time was real. He knew that had been bear lately, and he hadn't been contributing to their shop ideas too much, but that was amazing!

As Fred approached the bench he asked "Do you think it will ever stop?"

"The pillow or you sulking about Hermione going to ball with Krum?" George asked as he sent the pillow floating back towards Fred.

For that, Fred waited until the pillow floated back towards him before he hit it even harder back at George.

"Hey Feorge"

"Yes Gred?"

"Who are you asking to the ball?"

"Um… I was thinking that I would ask Katie…"

Fred's jaw dropped slightly as he noticed his younger twin blush. "Hmmmm Katie… right… I would have never guessed"

This time the pillowing went flying towards his crouch. "Who are you going to ask you pillock? I thought you told Hermione you would take Angelina, but, unless you've gotten more sneaky this week, I don't believe that you're asked her yet"

"Yes well it's kind of a difficult thing to explain. 'Hey Ange do you want to go to the Ball with me because I'm a twat and forgot to ask my actual girlfriend before a extremely handsome international Quidditch superstar? Also I yes, I have secret girlfriend' Yes I can't waiting to have that conversation with my ex girlfriend."

George snorted, "Being over-dramatic much? Just tell her that you are into someone else but you aren't ready to make a move you idiot"

Fred looked at his brother in surprise, George was normally relatively shy around girls, but that wasn't a completely crap idea by all stands. Maybe, however, it was just the fact that he currently had a pillowing constantly hitting him in the head though.

"Hmm brother you might be onto something here. But more importantly, what are we going to do with this bloody pillow?"

As the day of the ball approached Fred could tell that George was getting more and more nervous about asking Katie. Fred was incredibly thankfully that during the mayhem that was their Charms class that day he had a chance to speak to Angelina about the ball. When he had explained that he was kind of seeking someone but he had missed the chance to ask her, Angelina had raised her eyebrows and asked "So who is Granger going with then if it isn't you?"

Fred take been completely taken aback, and Angelina laughed and said to him "Don't worry your secret is safe with me, and I'm happy to cover for you at the ball." So she looked around, quickly checking that George and Katie were busy completing their charms before she asked "What are we going to do about those two though? You could cut the tension with a very cute knife"

To that Fred laughed and said "well I'm glad that you asked. I have a plan" and they spent the rest of their lesson playing as matchmakers.

It was, as it turned out, rather auspicious that very evening in the common room Ron, who was in a right terrible mood asked him who he was taking to the ball, the minute Katie and Angelina had walked into the room. Without giving it a moments thought he yelled out to Angelina and asked her to the ball, before shoving a well placed elbow into George's side, and he in turn then asked out Katie, who thankfully said yes. He winked at Angelina as George moved to towards Katie and as leaned and whispered into his brother's ear "That's how it's done mate".

Despite having a fantastic snowball fight with Harry and Rom, as he and his twin made there way up to the Gryffindor common room, Fred was in a mood. He knew that he should have asked Hermione to the Ball before someone else had the chance but he had kind of assumed that she would be coming with him. Now he was going with Angelina which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it just would not be the same as going with Hermione. Knowing how long girls could take to get ready, he knew he wouldn't even get to see her beforehand and that made him even more moody.

George didn't even bother trying to talk to him. He instead, was talking to Lee about how awesome tonight was going to be. _Lucky George,_ Fred thought, _He actually gets to go with Katie who he has been crushing on for years_. Fred realised that for his twin's sake he needed to pull himself out of this mood. People would be expecting them to be their largely cheerful selves that evening and that included Hermione.

After the twins were in their robes, they both turned to look in the mirror by their bed. Sometimes, looking a mirror and seeing an exact copy of yourself could be unnerving even for the twins, but as their matching grins spread across their faces, Fred knew it would be a fun evening.

"Ready to go and collect out dates?" He asked his brother, wriggling his eyebrows at the same time.

"Honestly, I'm more excited to see Ron in his robes! This should be classic!" answered George.

Fred's smile widened, he had completely forgotten about Ron's terrible robes. _Poor kid_ he thought. Being the youngest boy, Ron tended to suffer from a lack of self confidence that had never burdened the twins and truth be told, his robes were terrible.

"Ha - lead the way brother"

The twins met both Angelina and Katie in the common room and Fred noticed George's shy smile. Fred was happy to admit that he didn't have a shy bone in body, unlike his younger twin. Angelina, who, even Fred had to admit looked lovely, rolled her eyes at Fred over George and Katie's head. Thankfully their matchmaking plan was working, and neither Katie nor George were any the wiser, otherwise Fred was slightly worried that something heavier than a pillow would be flying at his head.

"Now no mischief tonight from you two", said Angelina doing her best imitation of Professor McGonagall "We expect our Hogwarts students to be on their best behaviour, which for you two doesn't mean much."

Fred put his hand and his heart and said "I solemnly swear, we have not arranged any major pranks for this evening. We know how to treat our ladies don't we George?"

Ginny, with Neville in tow snorted as we walked past the group, "More like Mum threatened to tell Percy you wanted to intern with him next summer if she heard even a rumour of prank"

Angelina and Katie roared with laugh and George visible paled at the idea and Fred turned slightly red. "Well on that note ladies, why don't we escort you down to the hall?"

Unfortunately the twins made it the whole way down to the Great Hall foyer and they still hadn't had a chance to see their younger brother. However Fred did notice that none of the Durmstrang lads had arrived as of yet, so that meant he wouldn't get a chance to see Hermione. He knew the champions had to open the Ball with a dance and couldn't help but smirk when he imagined Harry dance. While he may be a fantastic flyer he wasn't exactly graceful on the ground.

Suddenly the front doors to the castle opened and Krackoff entered, followed by the hoard of Durmstrang student. Fred felt is mouth drop open as he realised that the incredibly pretty girl next to Krum was none other than his girlfriend. He had known Hermione was pretty and that she had an incredibly body, but he had simply never seen her dressed like this before.

He hair was tamed (and to be honest he wasn't sure if he liked it) but the way the blue dress sat against her body made him want to run up to her and kiss her. Angelina, who was standing next to him coughed slightly in an attempt to bring him back to reality but he only vaguely heard it. The next thing he knew, George was suddenly standing on one of his feet and the pain brought him whooshing back down.

"Ah yes. Thanks for that Georgie. Angelina, why don't we go and get out selves a seat in the hall?"

Fred spent the rest of the evening trying to be a good date. He knew that he wasn't Angelina ideal date, but she wouldn't let on who was, so he decided to make the evening fun for both of them. He had, had the forethought to bring a small flask of rum, which was share with George, their dates and Lee, and between that and watching Harry dance, and occasionally trying to sneak a look at Hermione, the evening seemed to go pretty quickly.

What he did not expect, was that when he got back to the Common Room with Angelina, having left Katie and George swaying gently to the music in the Great Hall, was Ron yelling at Hermione. Deep down he had known that that night had been a pretty emotional one for her, even if he was still slightly annoyed that it hadn't been spent with him, so he hung back until Ron was about ready to go up the stairs with Harry, and then he charmed one of the cushions to fly behind him and hit Ron in the head multiple times, as he went on his way.

Hermione turned around and Fred stepped out from the shadows. He had a slight smirk on his face, being rather proud of himself for proving that he was less of a git then his brother. He noticed as he got closer to her, just how tired she was and that her hair was getting slightly fizzy at the ends again.

He stood behind her and massaged her shoulders gently and as he did she sighed and lent into him.

"So how was date with the famous Viktor Krum? Do you feel thoroughly charmed? Do you like how the other half live?" Fred asked with an almost passable look fake look of concern on his face.

"Oh Fred, please don't start. It was fine but it just fine. I did have fun, but I'm sure you had a fun time with Angelina right?" Now tired was more that just apparent on her face. She looked absolutely exhausted.

Fred kept massaging her shoulders and whispered in her ear "Go to bed love, we can spend time together tomorrow." He spun her around and her kissed her deeply. "I'll see you tomorrow"

The next day most of the students spent the day sleeping in and lazing around the common room. Fred wished that he could convince Hermione that a quick unsupervised to Hogsmeade was a good idea but he knew that that was a lost battle before he even tried. He also knew that today would be a useless day for a walk around the grounds because was always freezing. Cold winter days were usually for books by the fire, exploding snap and he and George generally creating mayhem by the fire. While these things were all fun, he wanted to spend with Granger and he couldn't very well do that in the common room.

As he walked down into the common room, it turned out that that wasn't even his first problem because she wasn't there. He then headed down to breakfast and expected to see her there with Harry and Ron, but instead he just found George, Ron and Harry. His twin raised an eyebrow at him, saying the unsaid "I didn't expect to see you today". Fred shrugged. He had no idea where she was.

He grabbed himself some toast and looked at Harry and asked, "Aren't you missing a member of the Golden Trio?". Harry glared at Fred and Fred knew that he had deserved that. Harry hated the fact that people called them the "Golden Trio". It bugged him no end.

"Mione 'n libr'y", Fred was pretty sure that whatever that was supposed to be had come from Ron but he didn't know what it was.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that mate" said George "You were trying to speak weren't you?"

Ron swallowed his mouthful of porridge and said "Hermione's in the library, as per normal. What are you lot doing today?"

At that point, Jordan sat down next George and Fred and said "Good question mate. I believe that I am taking the twins for a couple of hours." George smiled, unlike Fred he had remembered that the three of them had promised to experiment the day away. Fred figured that there was no harm in spending the day experimenting if Hermione was playing on spending the day in the library.

When he finally managed to get away from Jordan and George who seemed to willing to spend the entire day trying to figure out how to make a new potion that would turn the drinker into a girl, he was relieved. Fred wasn't entirely how much of a seller this particular item would be so he wasn't particularly interested.

He headed straight to the library, and entered under the reproachful glare of Madam Prince, but to his surprise, Hermione was not there. He then tried the common room again, but she wasn't there either. He knew she wasn't in his lab, because he had left George and Jordan experimenting in there.

Getting frustrated he decided to go back up to his room and have a quick nap before he tried to look for her again. As he entered his dorm, he could have died of shock, as he found his girlfriend lounging lazily on his bed. "Oh there you are! I've been looking for you all day. Where have you been?"

"Looking for me? I've been looking for you. How the hell did you end up in here?"

"Well I started waiting for you in the common room but when you did come down, I went down to breakfast, and then I studied for a while. I figured that while I was in the library you would come and find me, but you didn't. Then I got bored and came up here. You promised me spend time with me, you know." 

"Hmm that you're not wrong', Fred approached the bed that Hermione was laying on. He loved the way that she always reading. Even now as she laid on his bed waiting for him, she was reading. Watching her read always made his heart swell and made his stomach feel funny. That made what he was about to do even harder. He didn't really want to do it, but after what he saw between Ron and Hermione last night, he knew what he had to do.

"Hermione, honey, we cant kept doing this. One of us is going to get hurt, and I think it is going to be me."

"Im…what… Fred?"

"Love, we cant. Please don't think this is about you. This is about me. I just think that a time is going to come, when you look at me, and realise that I'm not the wizard for you"

"But Fred I want you, I don't want anyone else"

He learnt over her and kissed her very bushy hair before he said "I know love but it's time"

He looked at Hermione. He noticed how red her face has gone and how she seemed to be struggling to keep it together.

"I'm going to go" She stood up and grabbed her book and stalked from his room.

Fred had barely had any sleep and he really wasn't in the mood to deal with any of his many siblings. He was currently wandering around the castle trying to stay away from teachers and other students. His mission was entirely futile though, because Ginny kept appearing around each corner.

Fred kept moving faster and faster however when he past the final one he found Ginny waiting for him.

"Ginny what are you doing"

"What am I doing; what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm walking and I intend to keep walking."

"Away from Hermione who can't stop crying?"

At those words he paused. "Ginny it's for her own good."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Ron is in love with her. And she is in love with him, she just hasn't figured it out yet".

Ginny opened her month, and then closed it. She looked at her brother in complete confusion.

"Fred, mate, have all those bludgers finally caused you serious damage?"

"You didn't hear them last fighting last night did you? Ron got seriously jealous. He is really into her"

"And your not?"

"I am. Don't get me wrong, but not like that."

"So you're just giving up?"

"For now, yes."

"Wow" Ginny exclaimed as she sled down the castle wall. She looked at Fred. Fred was breathing very heavily, trying to keep himself together. More quickly and heavily than he thought was possibly, Ginny landed a solid punch on his right shoulder, which sent him back into the wall. Before he could say or do anything she quickly turned and stalked off and he slid to the floor with tears running down his face.


	7. Interval 2

Interval 2: Ginny

She hated to admit it, but punching Fred had hurt her hand. Damn, I should have listened to Bill when he said to punch the soft bits first she thought. She groaned, shook her hand and continued back to the Gryffindor dorms where her best mate was in tears because one of her brothers was an idiot. Before she made it back to the tower, she was jolted out of her thoughts as someone was yelling her name:

"Ginny! Ginny! Wait up!" She turned around to find a really worried Harry. Her stomach and heart lurched at the sight of him but she shoved that feeling down as far as she could. "Hey! Have you seen Hermione? I can't find her anywhere, I haven't seen her all day and she missed dinner."

She realised that she had two choices here: she could pretend to help him look for Hermione so she would have some extra time with him, or she could tell him some warped version of the truth. Hmmm, both involved lying...she thought as she continued walking towards the tower. Thankfully Harry fell in line.

"Ah yeah... she isn't…She's been hiding out in her dorm all day."

"Is she okay? Was it Krum? Oh no, Ron? He was in fine form last night. No idea why."

She was staring at him. Wow, she thought. Hermione had warned her that he was a little emotionally dense, but he had no idea what was going on. He might have saved the world a couple of times (and her life) but maybe that was just luck...

"Ummmm look she just needs some time alone. I'll tell her you are looking for her if you want?"

"Thanks, but more importantly, can you please make sure she eats something?"

"Do I look like a house-elf, Potter? I know my brothers eat a lot, but I don't, and I don't exactly carry food around."

"No but I do," said Harry as he pulled a sandwich wrapped in greaseproof paper out of his robes. Ginny would not have been more shocked if Percy appeared naked and started singing. Harry, somehow, sensed her shock and blushed slightly "Yeah, look, until you meet my cousin, you'll never understand. Please just make sure she eats it. Mione gets grumpy when she's hungry. Its peanut butter: her favourite. I had a feeling..."

Ginny took the sandwich and managed to say thank you while wondering what his cousins had to do with the sandwich, as they reached the Fat Lady. Harry let her in with the password and as she brushed passed whispered: "please tell me if she needs anything", before following her into the warm room and joining the boys in his year.

George merely lifted an eyebrow at the sight of her and Harry causing her to blush. But she walked right on by him and up to the 4th year girls dormitory, where she found the curtains to Hermione's bed closed. She tried to open them, but they appeared stuck. Thankfully that one she knew the way around that charm, and she simply crawled under the curtains (Fred has taught her that trick). She peered onto the bed to find Hermione lying on her stomach with her charms homework in front of her with tears running down her face.

Ginny placed a hand on Hermione's back. "Hermione Jean Granger. What on earth? School doesn't go back for another week."

"Ginny I just want to be left alone"

"Hmmm have you eaten today?"

"No. And I'm not hungry"

Ginny giggled as Hermione's stomach rumbled loudly.

"So you don't want this peanut butter sandwich Harry asked me to give you?"

Hermione ignored her. "Okay fine. I'm just going to leave it here", she said as she dropped the sandwich next to the charms book. "If it happens to get eaten, that's great. It's not like the house-elves slaved over it. I'm pretty sure Harry made it himself... it doesn't even have butter on it"

"That's the way I like it" Hermione whispered quietly, and then started to cry in earnest.

"Hermione, tell me what happened." Ginny was aiming for soothing was pretty sure she'd missed.

"Why don't you guess?"

Well, that was absurdly abrupt even for Hermione.

"Okay. So I'm going to hazard a guess that my idiot brother upset you."

"You're going to need to be more specific. You have a lot of brothers."

"Let's see – you haven't seen Charlie or Bill in the last 24 hours. Percy: well that's likely, but this reaction seems disproportionate for anything Perce might have said. George is sitting in the common room and doesn't seem too upset. That just leaves two: Ron and Fred."

"You don't need to worry about Fred hurting me. He dumped me and he didn't even bother to tell me why"

"I'm sorry? I could have sworn you just told me that Fred broke up with you..."

Hermione just responded by glaring her before succumbing to more tear. "Yep, this afternoon. He saw Ron and I fighting last night, and then dumped me today. So it has been a _magical_ 24 hours. "

"I knew you'd fought. I punched him for making you cry. My hand is killing me by the way. So thank me anytime you want"

"Thank you" it was mumbled but it was something.

"Right, well, you keep doing your homework. I have... a thing..." Ginny slid off the bed and went to crawl under the curtains.

"Ginny leave it, please. I'm embarrassed enough already."

Ginny tried to look over her shoulder and up at Hermione on the bed, but it made her neck ache. "Don't you worry about me... I'm just going to thank Harry for that sandwich you definitely aren't going to eat the minute I leave".

—

Ginny found George exactly where she'd left him, in the common room talking to Lee. All she had to do was raise one eyebrow at him and he gave her the Weasley "I'm not involved leave me out of it" with just a touch of "he's mad".

Ginny turned and found Harry standing, now in front of her. "Harry, what the hell happened last night?"

Harry looked confused. "I don't know. I came back from the Ball, and Ron and Hermione were in the middle of a row. Something about Ron failing to notice that she was a girl and needing to ask her to the Ball himself..."

Harry had turned red and look distinctly uncomfortable. Ginny shook her head in frustration. God, Ron is a twat she thought.

"Was anyone else around?"

"I think I saw one of the twins come in as I left. I mean I just saw a glimpse of short red hair so I know it wasn't you, and Ron was heading up the stairs. With a pillow flying at his head. That bit was class" Harry grinned and Ginny couldn't help but grin back.

"Is she okay?"

"She's been better but she's got the sandwich, so hopefully that helps."

"It normally does"

"Oh 'Arry", Ron yelled, "what are you doing?"

Ginny rolled her eyes and smiled at Harry and yelled back "Talking to the only Weasley with any sense you idiot" before she winked and went to sit down with the girls from her year by the fire. At some point, after Lee headed off to bed, George slumped down next to her and pulled out his exploding snap cards.

And that was where they stayed until approximately 1 am when Fred slinked back into the Common Room…


End file.
